


Blood Destined to Hell (And a Heart to Heaven)

by AllThoseOtherWorlds



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Boy King of Hell Sam, Demon Blood, Demon Sam Winchester, F/M, Gen, Sam Has Powers, Sam Winchester's Demonic Powers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-08
Updated: 2014-05-08
Packaged: 2018-01-23 23:44:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,111
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1583804
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AllThoseOtherWorlds/pseuds/AllThoseOtherWorlds
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sam almost doesn't question Ruby - she's been good to him, after all. But something pushes him to dig deeper, and his quest for answers brings him places he never thought he'd go.</p><p>It's still worth it.</p><p>Character deaths are not Sam or Dean.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Blood Destined to Hell (And a Heart to Heaven)

**Author's Note:**

> **Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural. I do not make money from this.**
> 
> **Comments and constructive criticisms are always welcome! Even if you didn't finish reading the piece, I'd like to know what you did and/or didn't like**
> 
> **This was inspired by a Story a Day prompt I did not end up filling the requirements for, and also by a piece of fanart I saw on Tumblr. I lost the link to the piece, but if I ever find it again I'll add it here - essentially it was for a prompt where Sam was the king of Hell but still had compassion and stuff. Sam was sitting on a pile of skulls, but I think there were flowers in the picture too?**

                It was a day like any other, just one more in a string of long and increasingly frustrating failures. Ruby was exasperated with him  _again_ , and in all honesty she had reason to be. It wasn’t like Sam was actually accomplishing anything.

                “Come _on,_ Sam,” she whined – although he suspected she was trying to be encouraging – “Just focus a little harder. Dean needs you to do this.”

                The mention of Dean pushed him a little harder, and he squared his gaze once again on the demon they had tied up and gagged in a devil’s trap. Stretching his mind out to it, he tried to do as Ruby had taught him – find the demon, grab it, and _pull_.

                Finding it was easy. The next two steps, on the other hand…

                Ten minutes later he fell to his knees, gasping for breath as the last tendrils of demonic smoke poured into the concrete floor. His nose was bleeding and his head was killing him, but he had finally exorcised the demon.

                “Good, Sam,” Ruby said, dropping to the floor next to him. “Just take a bit of a break and we can go hunting for another one.”

                Sam started to nod, but aborted the motion when it intensified the already pounding ache in his skull. “Okay,” he told her. “Just a few minutes first?”

                “Sure,” she replied easily. “Whatever you want. But Sam?”

                “Yes?”

                “You know this could be so much easier, if you just let me help you more.”

                He knew where she was going with this, and had fought with her about it before. “No, Ruby, I will not drink your blood. I’ll get this.”

                Sam’s resolve waned each time she asked, and he thought she knew it too. She didn’t press the issue this time – probably content with the knowledge that one day, he would agree.

***

                That day came sooner than expected. They were tracking what appeared to be one demon but ended up finding three, and even with Ruby’s help he was nearly killed. She remained quietly fuming while they headed back to the motel room, but the silence didn’t last long.

                “Sam, I can’t take this anymore,” she told him. “You put yourself in more danger each time you go out there, and if you want to improve, this is the way.”

                Sam swallowed, looking at the knife she was holding out to him, intention clear in her eyes. He hated the idea, knew what Dean would say if he ever found out about it – as if just working with Ruby to hone his demonic powers wasn’t bad enough – but there didn’t seem to be any other option.

                He wanted to get Dean out of Hell, and this was how he had to do it.

***

                Drinking Ruby’s blood was dizzying. The rush of power that flowed into him was intoxicating and terrifying and a reminder of everything he was and didn’t want to be, but it was also a promise. Ruby was right – with this, he actually stood a chance of helping Dean.

                They tested out the new power right away – Ruby had a lead on another demon in the area, and tracking it down was fairly straightforward. The demon was fairly low-level, like the ones he’d tried to exorcise before, but this time he managed to do it in less than five minutes.

                They were making progress.

***

                Time passed as normal, and he probably would have gone without questioning anything – probably, in a million other parallel universes, _did_ go without questioning anything – except for the little things.

                It was the way Ruby pushed at him, seemed _so_ passionate about helping him get Dean out of Hell even though she didn’t even like Dean, and never tried to push Sam into moving on instead.

                It was the way she would just disappear sometimes, leaving for a day or more without ever telling him where she had been.

                It was the way she never hesitated to grow frustrated with _Sam_ , but never failed to light up with joy and pride whenever his _powers_ came into the conversation.

                He didn’t know enough to say that something was _wrong_ , but he did feel uneasy and as much as he needed to help Dean, he wasn’t sure if he could trust Ruby anymore.

                She’d helped him a lot when she’d first found him, and Sam knew he owed her for that. It was hard to overlook the care and warmth (or the demonic equivalent) she could have for him when the situation demanded it, and he almost felt guilty for thinking that something was wrong – as though he were imagining things.

                But something didn’t seem _right_ , and maybe it was intuition and heightened psychic abilities from the demon blood, but he had to figure out what it was.

***

                Although he had definitively decided to figure out what was off about Ruby, he was still unsure about how to do it. He knew asking her wouldn’t work – demons lie, after all – and he didn’t think she would keep any papers or files about which would give him the information he needed.

                In the end, there was only one option, even if it was one he didn’t really like.

                He ramped up the demon blood routine, much to Ruby’s delight. As much as she would vanish off to nowhere for days, she always managed to come back in time for that, or else left him with some for while she was gone. On a few occasions she’d been held up on her return and he’d gotten low, but those were few and far between.

                Once Sam was drinking as much demon blood as possible – which terrified him, but had to be done – he started practicing.

                Ruby taught him how to kill demons, but that was all she taught him. The rest Sam had to try on his own. He knew there had to be more to his abilities than exorcisms, having seen what the other “special children” could do, but he didn’t know what his own limits were.

                It started off with telekinesis, since that seemed fairly easy, nonviolent, and straightforward. He remembered the one time he’d done it before when he’d seen Dean get shot, but this wasn’t at all similar. That had been emotionally charged and desperate, a feat of strength in a strained situation. This was almost _easy_ , an extension of will much less draining than killing or exorcising a demon was.

                After that, Sam moved on to what he really needed to learn – mind reading. He didn’t practice on Ruby, since he couldn’t tell if she’d know or not. Sam had to be skilled when he started on her.

                Instead he practiced on random people at bars, restaurants, or on the street. It was hard to tell at first if he was imagining their thoughts or if it was something more, but after a week of practice he was pretty certain that it was genuine.

                Really, it wasn’t all that much different from connecting with a demon before exorcising it.

                Sam tried mind-reading a demon for the first time one day when Ruby was off somewhere and had sent him to get a demon by himself. It worked, but the sense he got of himself through the demon’s eyes – terrifying and thrumming with the power of Hell – made him want to vomit.

                After that, it was all he could do not to obsessively check his reflection in the mirror for black eyes.

                Finally, about a week after that demon, and a month and a half after Dean had been dragged into Hell, he decided he was strong enough to try it on Ruby.

                In the end, it was a fairly simple affair. She was sitting by the table munching on some fries she’d asked Sam to get when he’d picked up supper for himself. He’d finished eating already, and fiddled with the cutlery while he zoned in on her mind.

                It was easier with her than with the other demons – she’d taken an empty vessel, at his request, so there was no human soul to interfere. She stiffened when she sensed his connection, and started to say something, but it was too late.

                Sam sifted through her mind quickly and efficiently, not interested in causing undue pain or delving into irrelevant memories. When he found what he was looking for, though, it was all he could do not to exorcise her on the spot.

                Still, he wanted to hear it from her borrowed mouth.

                “Really, Ruby?” he spat at her. “The freaking _Apocalypse?”_

                “It’s your destiny, Sam,” she told him, some semblance of confidence still clinging to her words. “This is what you were meant to be.”

                Sam knew she believed it. He’d seen it in her mind – she believed every word she was saying, and was prepared to die for it.

                He had no idea whether or not it was true, but he knew that if it was he would rather almost anything else. Hell, he’d rather turn into a demon _himself_ than let what he’d seen in her head come to pass. If what she believed was true, she was preparing him to bring on the end of the world, and the destruction of all humanity.

                His own humanity seemed like a small price to pay – it wasn’t like there was much of it left, anyway.

                Ruby had been silent for the past minute as he sorted through everything, paralyzed by the flow of power he kept tethered to her. With a thought, he struck her dead. She was a useful source of blood, but he couldn’t have her manipulating him anymore.

                Unfortunately, he couldn’t go with his instincts and swear off demon blood forever, putting this behind him and moving on with his life.

                Dean was still in Hell, and getting him out was important for more than his own emotional well-being.

                He’d seen more than just her plans for _him_ in Ruby’s head – there was stuff about Dean in there too. Sam knew what they were doing to him, and he knew what he needed to do to pave the way for the Apocalypse. He couldn’t let that happen, for Dean’s as well as on the off-chance that someone else could fill his role in the proceedings or force him to play along.

                He disposed of Ruby’s body and stretched out his mind to see if he could sense demons – if not, he’d hunt for them the old-fashioned way.

                If he was going to do this, he’d need more blood.

***

                It was two months and one week after Dean’s death that he first noticed his eyes going black. He wasn’t even doing anything important – just drying himself off after a shower. It was the thoughts of Dean that did it, really. He’d been thinking of all the times his brother used to tell him to “hurry up, princess”, and the wave of nostalgic grief that washed over him brought with it a flicker of inky black.

                It was almost nothing, only there for a second or two, but it was enough. Sam hadn’t cried since Dean had been taken, but he cried then.

                Signs that he was changing started popping up more frequently after that: his eyes would turn for longer, and with less provocation. Once, he freaked out a waitress by accidentally turning his eyes while ordering a meal, and they didn’t turn back until he’d finished eating.

                Holy water stung, although thankfully it didn’t burn the way he’d been afraid it would. Whether that was because he wasn’t completely a demon or because he wasn’t possessing someone was anybody’s guess.

                He decided not to risk entering any devil’s traps.

                The only saving grace throughout the whole thing – and how ironic it was to be thinking those words _now_ – was the fact that Sam still seemed to _think_ like himself. He had been afraid that the blood would change him beyond his control, and that he’d lose track of his mission and everything Ruby had prophesied would happen.

                He’d started writing to himself after that first flicker of demon eyes, explaining why he was doing this and begging himself to try to be _good_ , to be compassionate and caring and to help people, no matter what the blood did to him. He wrote to himself about Dean, and how important it was that he save him, and about the Apocalypse and humanity and why they were worth saving. Sam reread the notes to himself every evening before penning the next, and maybe that was what saved him, in the end.

                All that mattered was that he still found himself capable of caring, and that alone was enough to drive him on.

***

Two months and three weeks after Dean had died, Sam figured out how to transport himself to Hell. It had come with the further expansion of his powers, after he’d finally started to _sense_ Hell’s presence in the corner of his mind. It was painful to focus on, and all his instincts screamed not to go there – even demons hated hell – but once he controlled himself enough to really try, it was easy.

Hell was bad. Something visceral in Sam that was both human _and_ demon in agreement wanted to leave immediately, but he held it back. Dean was here, and that was what mattered.

There were lots of demons here too, of course. They approached him when he arrived, some of them curious, others angry out of habit, and some rightfully afraid.

At first Sam just ignored them, but after a mile of wading through a throng of demons he realised that he needed a new plan. Hell was _big_ , and if he wanted to find Dean he’d have to get someone to actually show him where his brother was.

Just as Sam started to steel himself to find a “tour guide” to Hell, some of the demons started to mutter amongst themselves and he suddenly found the crowd mostly cleared away.

In its place was Lillith.

“Hello Sam,” she said. “Fancy seeing you here.”

Her words were superficially pleasant, but she was seething underneath, and with good reason. After all, Sam was onto her plan and clearly more powerful than she’d anticipated.

                “Lillith,” he said, eyeing her cautiously. “I’m here for Dean.”

                “Are you?” she laughed. “But I’m not done with him yet! Alistair is breaking your brother as we speak. I’m sure it will only be a matter of time before he finally snaps.”

                “Thank you,” he told her. “Really. If Dean hasn’t broken the first seal yet, then I have no reason not to kill you.”

                Sam smiled, and hoped that he could actually kill her at this level of power. It had been enough to get him into Hell, so surely it was enough to take down Lillith.

                He focused on her the same way he had on all the other demons, and although she fought harder, it was only a matter of minutes before he had a firm grasp and was _pulling_ with all he had, pouring power into her with intent to vaporise.

                She fought back, harder than any demon he’d exorcised yet, and for a moment Sam started to panic. What if she killed him here? Dean would be stuck in Hell forever and who knew what would happen. He _had_ to stop her.

                He was nearing the end of his reserves, but fought harder all the same, pushing everything he had into killing her. He was _so close_. Sam could feel his power levels going down and down and down, until … they went back up.

                He was so shocked that for a moment he nearly lost control of her, but wrenched it back quickly and poured his newfound supply of power into finishing her off. As her demonic essence flashed and tore itself apart Sam tried to wrap his head around what had just taken place.

                He hadn’t drawn power from demon blood that time, or even from his own reserves of energy.

                He had drawn power directly from _Hell itself._

                Maybe it was a new power that only worked in Hell, or maybe if he got strong enough he’d be able to do it anywhere, but Sam decided to leave that discussion for another day. Instead, he turned to the crowd of demons – now terrified and subservient – and demanded to be brought to Dean Winchester.

                Seeing people on the racks in Hell in was painful. Seeing Dean was much, much worse.

                He was in really bad shape, bleeding all over and covered in bruises and burns and some parts of him looked like they’d been literally ripped to shreds and turned inside-out.

                But it was Dean, and he hadn’t broken yet – although Sam knew he must be close – and he could save him.

                Sam turned back to the demons who had brought him here, focusing power into his voice as he ordered, “Leave now. I’m taking Dean Winchester out of Hell, and if you interfere I will kill you.”

                The demon who had been torturing Dean turned to him, voice slippery and unnerving.

                “And why should I listen to you?”

                He was much easier to kill than Lillith had been.

                Once all the demons had finally cleared out, Sam approached Dean carefully. He was in bad shape, and Sam didn’t know if he could actually heal people, but he had to try. After all, demons seemed to be able to bring people back for crossroads deals, right? Sam had more power than most demons, so he figured it wasn’t too unreasonable to expect to be able to heal Dean’s soul here and his body on Earth.

                It took a bit of concentration, and he wasn’t sure that he’d actually healed him properly, but apparently it was doable. Dean blinked at him in shock, and spoke for the first time since he’d seen him here.

                “Sammy?”

                “Yeah, Dean,” Sam told him, voice rough. “It’s me. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

                He clutched Dean to himself and pulled his attention to Earth, focusing on the field where they’d buried him and healing the body before they arrived.

                “It’s okay, you’re out, I’ve got you.”

                The last thing Sam saw before he pulled them to Earth and pushed Dean’s soul back into his newly-healed body were his eyes. They were green and whole and, while not vibrant or bright, fully human. They reminded Sam not only of Dean, but also of all the other people out there – humans who, if Sam had really stopped the Apocalypse, would never know things like him existed.

                Sam decided that, all things considered, everything he had done was worth it.


End file.
